TMD OPEN 19 Tournament Organizer Report

Another year, another TMD Open. I think this year marks the 15th year of TMD Open and my 20th year as a tournament organizer. And, I still get the same feeling of dread leading up to the event that something will go wrong and the sense of ease and accomplishment when it is all over. I am always overcome by how lucky I am to be a part of something like this. Magic is a game that is so big, so worldly, so mammoth that it seems odd that there can be something like the small, tight community of Vintage that we have in the northeast. But I am honored to be a part of that group and hope that my events have an impact on keeping it going.

I have said it in my last report, but I want to again apologize to anyone who I couldn’t give my full attention to with the craziness of the day. Many of you came up and chatted with me during the day and even if I looked like it was some down time I likely had 20 thought swirling through my head. So, if I seemed distant I was not trying to be rude. I look forward to seeing you all again at events that I attend where I can be a little more social.

Of course, I certainly must thank my amazing judge staff: CJ Stambaugh, Kevin Daly, David Hutchinson, and Joe Achille for all their hard working in making sure the event ran smoothly. Props to Phil Michener for running the concessions. And of course, Nick Coss, and Calvin Hodges were outstanding vendors.

Other notable victories:
JP Kohler- TMD OPEN 19 BINGO Winner
Shingo Aratake- Last place finisher(Still in after 7 rounds) and winner of signed “Totally Losts”
Andrew Farias and Mark Hornung- Winners of MTG Art paintings
Will Magrann- TMD OPEN 19 CARD THROWING CONTEST Winner (BACK TO BACK WINNER)
Team Cerebral Assassins(Justin Gennari, Dan Nelson, Tim Candee)- TMD OPEN 19 TEAM COMPETITION Winners
(This one was CLOSE. PHS(Joe Brennan, Dan Miller, and Zach Dobbin) had 42 points going into the top 8 compared to Cerebral Assassin’s 41. But since Justin won three matches in the top 8 to Joe Brennan’s two the nod went to the Cerebral Assassins)
Sam Dayton, Ryan Glackin, Mike Noble, Nick Cross (Team KFC)- TMD OPEN 19 TRIVIA Winners
Christian Aguanno- TMD OPEN 19 SIDE EVENT Winner
Nicholas DiJohn- TMD Open 19 Pirate Selfie Champion

Other thoughts on the day:
Everything went fine after the scare I got when I showed up on Friday to be told that the room was double booked for Saturday! Fortunately, the VFW figured out the goof and took care of everything!

FNM vintage had 10 people which was exactly 10 people more than would have been there if I was just setting up the room by myself so that seems to be something I want to keep doing. Moving forward I could see this growing and becoming a more attended part of the event.

The after party was a lot of fun. I think over the course of a few years this could grow to be a staple of the event as well.

Props to Eric Dupuis for uploading a stream of feature matches to his website. Please visit and support https://www.twitch.tv/BrainstormMTG. The specific video is posted at: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/260565025 . Although this is not a budgeted part of the event, Eric stepped up in a big way to bring coverage to watch and rewatch whenever you need your TMD Open fix.

Thanks again the VFW for hosting. And thank you all for being considerate around the club members. We are guests in their house after all.

If you had a good time, a good way to pay it forward is to help build the community by encouraging and helping someone interested in Vintage to get into the format. Loan some cards, carpool to an event, show them some MTGO content, etc. Let’s keep the momentum for Vintage going.

Hi all. The most significant way that you can help make TMD Open 20 next year even better than this one is by going here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/449795605434377/
and sharing in the suggestion post any little thing you can think of to make the next event better. I don't care how inane or weird your suggestion may be. Although I can't promise that each one will be acted upon, I do promise to read and consider every single thought. Thanks,
Ray